E-Coli infection has been traced to yet another country now! The European Food Safety authorities are now claiming that the fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt carried the contamination. They had been imported by a German distributor where almost 4,000 people fell ill after ingesting sprouts containing the rare O104:H4 strain of E-Coli.

The seeds had entered Germany way back in 2009-2010 and procedure of tracing back the contamination to these batches of seeds still remain uncertain. The food experts say that only one in a thousand of such seed samples may carry the contamination, a fact that is almost impossible to ascertain. The tests conducted on them have not yet proved to be conclusive either.

The deadly E-Coli infection first became evident in Germany where it caused 48 deaths and left thousands ill with diarrhea and kidney failure symptoms. The German authorities first blamed the bean sprouts that were traced to the Northern part of the country. The particular farm which grew the sprouts often sold them in mixed bunches and it became a difficult task to pinpoint the blame on a single species.

Mid June saw at least 16 people falling ill in the Bordeaux region of France with the Food safety officials naming three different kinds of sprouts including the fenugreek as being the source of the contamination.

The investigators discovered that the seeds had entered Europe in two batches with one of them ending up in Germany while the other went to a UK based company who sold it to a retailer in France. The British company, Thompson & Morgan faced flak when the French authorities laid the blame squarely on them. However, they refrained from naming their suppliers and halted the supply to France instead.

The entire case of E-Coli infection is becoming too perplexing for words now as a new source is being dragged into the controversy almost every day. That is no reason for you to give up eating the vitamin rich fenugreek sprouts though. Cook them well to safeguard your health and continue enjoying them.  Bon Apetite!

Image Credit- asmeen-healthnut.blogspot.com